Evaluation of Pain — Practical Procedure

Abstract

Once a patient suffering from (chronic) pain has reported for treatment one should try to evaluate the degree and kind of pain before initiating any kind of therapy. This is essential to be able to evaluate effectiveness of therapy. Maybe a different kind of therapy would be required. This procedure should be adhered to also before electric pain control. In selecting a method for such an evaluation, the number of patients seen in a time interval (e.g. one week) should be taken into account. We selected a method not really time consuming but still objective enough to allow comparison with later controls: four factors were evaluated and numbers between 1 and 4 given to each of these. It originally was described as “pain profile scoring matrix” by Picaza, Shealy and Ray [194] and was adapted to use at the “Ambulatorium Süd” under the name of “pain index”. Explanation is given in table 3.

Often after a day, even after one hour you laugh at a pain and do not feel the wound.

(Rückert; Weisheit des Brahrnanen vol. 4, pg. 82)